


Versus

by Siddal



Category: Confessions of Dorian Gray
Genre: Clubbing, Jealousy, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 09:28:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8244371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siddal/pseuds/Siddal
Summary: A reunion at a club. Simon is flustered. Toby is jealous. And Dorian is just savoring the moment.





	

“Well, he’s right fit isn’t he…What?” said a man with ginger hair to his two companions at the bar as he sips his scotch.

“I may not be a poof but I know a good looking bloke when I see one. And you’re obviously interested.” He continued in a more shouting manner to speak over the loud music in the club, while pointing at one of his friends.

“It’s not like that. He’s a client.” Said the friend, Simon Darlow.

“You don’t look at Mrs. Gottlieb like that.” The third member of their party, Jaime, jumped in.

“You know the Gray accounts?” he asked.

“Yeah, been with us since the eighteen hundreds.” said the red-haired one, Richard.

“It’s his.”

“Well, he does looks like an entitled little aristocrat. You know that laidback, slightly rugged look but somehow wrapped in the most expensive things.” Said Jaime.

“Yup. That’s Dorian. A punk and a dandy combined in one body.”

“Dorian? Well, you’re awfully familiar.” Richard teased.

“He was one of us once. He was a friend.”

“Little more than a friend, looks like.” Jaime pipes in.

Simon looks at him with a look that obviously says ‘Really? You too?’

“Bit young though.” Said Rich.

“Trust me. He’s older than you think, older than us even.”

“Thank god for plastic surgery. I’m man enough to admit that face is worth preserving, along with his other parts.” Richard wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Pretty sure that’s not plastic surgery.”

“You never know.”

“I suppose it should be for most people, especially people like him who don’t exactly treat their body like a temple…He vanished off the face the earth for a few years a while back.”

Jaime scoffs and says “Probably did some detox on some remote monastery or whatever fountain of youth those wanderlust, green-living, rich folks are into these days.”

“He was so clueless when I met him last, he thought he could sell his crumbling Mayfair mansion in a snap.” Said Simon with small smile on his face.

“Not in this market. Though that place’s probably worth a pretty penny now.” said Jaime.

“Told him that too. He looked so shocked, it’s like the worlds gone loopy.”

“Well it has though hasn’t it?”

“Dorian’s world is about as crazy as it gets, you’d think worse things would shock him.”

“Wait a sec, Dorian Gray?” asks Rich. “Like the film?”

“Or the novel.” Jaime says haughtily.

“Sure, Mr. Connoisseur.” Rich counters before turning back to Simon.

“He does seem to fit the bill, hedonistic tendencies and all.” says Jaime, pointing at Dorian downing a drink and dancing.

“Did he change his name to that?” asks Rich.

“Nope. God-given apparently.”

“Well, he certainly looks the part.” 

“Yup, you are so not gay.” says Simon sarcastically, laughing as he teases Rich.

His moment of mirth doesn’t last though and gets replaced by nerves. “Oh god, he’s headed this way!”

The handsome man approaches the trio with a killer smile.

“Dorian.” Simon greets him.

“Simon! What a surprise. What are you doing here?” says Dorian with all the enthusiasm his drink lent him.

“Just drinks with some colleagues. You up to your old ways then?” Simon tries to be teasing and casual.

“Limiting the substance abuse but yeah. You may think my brand of hedonism’s out of style but it started well before the Noughties and it’s sticking around.” Says Dorian, as he lifts his glass in celebration.

“You on your own then?” Simon asks.

“No, he’s not. Here’s your G&T, love.” Says a tall, ethereal looking man who came out of no where.

“There you are! Ummm this is Simon Darlow. We used to…work together. Simon this is Toby.” Says Dorian.

Toby corrects him by saying “Tobias.”

“Yeah, he’s my…Tobias.” Says Dorian, not entirely sure how to introduce the two to each other.

“Life partners?” Rich pipes in.

“Not the phrase I’d use.” Toby smiles at Dorian over the inside joke.

After a split second of confusion, heartache, and awkwardness, Simon comes to his senses and introduces his companions.

“Oh sorry! These are my friends Rich and Jamie, by the way.”

“So you all work for White Stallion then?” asks Dorian.

“Yeah.” They say in unison.

“So where are you staying now Dorian?” Asks Simon, downing his own brand of liquid courage after.

“WE are living in the Mayfair house.” Says Toby.

“You are?” Simon is surprised.

“Yeah, decided not to sell it as you suggested.” Says Dorian.

“WE are trying to restore it as best we can. Still pretty livable.” says Toby with an obvious emphasis on the word ‘we’.

“Cosmetically, it’s still got the looks. Some areas may not be in the best shape but it’s enough.”

“Yeah. Don’t need much with only US living in that big old mansion. Now, how about that dance you promised me, love.” Says Toby as he pulls Dorian to the dancefloor, leaving a speechless Simon behind.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the night went by with more drinks and dancing. Occasionally, they’d go back to Simon’s group to mingle. Simon had gotten less flustered but more aware of his diminished chances with Dorian with this Tobias character around. Toby proved less possessive as the night progressed, but not enough that Dorian wouldn’t tease him about it on the leisurely walk home.

“Getting a bit territorial are we?” asks Dorian with one eyebrow raised.

“What are you talking about?”

“WE’re living in Mayfair’, ‘WE’re restoring… aw. I think someone’s jealous.”

“Just making sure he knows you’re taken.” Says Toby.

“Taken? I’m yours now am I?” asks Dorian with a suddenly stern look on his face.

“I don’t mean…” Toby tries to backtrack.

Dorian bursts out laughing.

“I know what you meant. Don’t worry. I think it’s adorable.”

They walk silently for a while before Toby brings Simon up again.

“You two were together after us weren’t you?”

“Well, we slept together a few times. He seemed very comfortable in my apartment but we weren’t really….”

“Serious? I get that you’ve had several flings Dorian. Living as long as we have, it’s practically unavoidable. It’s just…he still seems quite interested in you.” Toby tries to reassure Dorian.

“I suspect he’s longing for something but it might not be me specifically. He does have a beard after all.”

“A beard as in… in this day and age?” Toby frowns in confusion.

“Office politics can be quite unforgiving, apparently.”

“Well you were quite interested in him too.”

“Well he was one of the less obnoxious people in my life at the time, pretty good in bed, interesting enough, kind. The man fed my ego. I even told him who I really was after a bad batch of possessed coke.”

Toby pauses to try and process what Dorian said about ‘possessed coke’ then says “Then why was it just a fling.”

“Well it wasn’t just a fling. Became a bit of a friendship but it didn’t get any more serious than that.”

“Why?”

“You for one. I didn’t feel as strongly as I feel for you. I’m not gonna say there haven’t been others before you but after…that’s a different story. And I’ve learned not to entertain feelings that aren’t to that intensity. They end up fading quicker.”

Dorian says dismissively before again serious.

“Another reason is that my relationship with Simon was like my relationship with Harry except I was Harry and he was me. He was the pure young thing and I was the corrupting force. So I let him go. But turns out the world got to him soon enough.”

“You don’t have to live beyond a century to be corrupted, Dorian. We’re proof of that. We both started out young. Innocence is a rarity. Most of us don’t stay innocent to the end. It’s not your fault.” Says Toby.

“It’s just that…As jealous as I was…yes, I’m admitting it…I would have liked to think you gave life, love, a bit more of a try after me. I didn't want to be the cause of something like that. You didn’t know I was coming back or if someone else will come along. The way he looked at you; in a different life, I wish you would have given that a chance. You deserve to be looked at like that, with true adoration, not just lust and hunger.”

Dorian stops walking, pulling Toby closer to him by his shirt and looks him in the eyes.

“Well it's a good thing in this life, I do have you. I’m not sure I deserve you but, you’re all I want.”

They just stand on the sidewalk, smiling at each other.

“God, this conversation got hella cheesy.” Says Dorian with a teasing tone.

“Well, I plan on being more territorial by pounding you through the mattress when we get home. Plant my flag, as it were. Does that make it less cheesy?”

And they laugh their entire way home.


End file.
